The owners of the Snapchat photo messaging app will not consider an acquisition or investment deal until early in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s 23-year-old co-founder and CEO, is believed to be waiting for user numbers and messages sent via the service to increase further, in order to push for a higher valuation.

The news comes amid reports that Snapchat’s owners rejected a $3 billion cash offer from Facebook to acquire the company. A $1 billion offer was previously reported to have been made by the social network giant.

Snapchat differentiates itself by allowing users to share messages that disappear after a few seconds, and its user base is generally younger than other services. It does not yet generate any revenue.

In June, Snapchat raised $60 million, which valued the company at $800 million. By September, the company said usage had almost doubled to 350 million messages per day.

Facebook is believed to be interested in Snapchat due to its messaging capability and young user base. The social network’s business is increasingly generating revenue from mobile advertising but it recently stated that fewer teenagers are using its service.

Facebook’s largest acquisition to date is the $1 billion purchase of Instagram in 2012.

Snapchat is also reported to have been offered a $200 million investment from a group led by Chinese online player Tencent, which values the company at $4 billion. Tencent already runs the successful Weixin/WeChat messaging app.